Talking with Hannah...

I absolutely love to talk to my little Hannah.  There is just something about that little voice and the funny way she says things.  She thinks she is so big.  This evening we were holding hands while walking outside.  (I was holding her right hand.)  She says to me, "Mommy, this hand (her left hand) is naughty."  "oh, why?"  I ask.  "Because, it hits people." she says.  I told her, "oh, well you should tell you hand to not hit people."  "I can't.  It just does it by itself.  But not our family...it likes our family!"  Haha.  I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. 

Another favorite of mine is when we are getting fast food and she asks for a "hanguber and lemalade".  I say hanguber so much now that sometimes I have to think for a second about what it is really called.

I love you hanners.  I hope you never change.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Well kiddo, you are seven years old today!  Holy smokes where does time go?  You are such a beautiful little girl.  Brooklyn, you have taught me so much.  I've learned a deeper richer meaning to love.  From the first time I laid my eyes on you I loved you so much that it hurt.  I had never felt a love like that before. Words can't quite describe what it is like to love a child, a sweet little innocent angel from heaven.  I knew then and I know even more now that I would and will do anything for you.  You light up my life.  You make me laugh out loud and sometimes cause me to stop and think.  You are so smart and curious about life.  Always asking questions and wanting to learn more.  You are a very compassionate little girl.  You watch people and genuinely care for them and their happiness.  You are an awesome big sister.  I can rely on you so much and trust you that you will choose the right and help your little sister to do the same.  You have brought so much happiness to my life.  I have found my greatest joy in life to be seeing you happy and succeed.  Thank you for being my sweet little lovey!

For your birthday this year we decided to surprise you by going horse back riding.  You love horses and always ask, "when I'm 18, can I have my own horse?"  I always say, yes!  Because, well, when you're 18 you can do whatever you want. As long as you pay for it.  So anyways, we let you invite 1 friend and we took you horse back riding.  You chose Mona Olson.  Your zero best friend, as you say.  She loves animals too.  We had a great time.  You were able to walk your horse and brush her hair.  We went on a two mile ride!  We got to ride the horses into a stream and constantly had to pull them out of weeds that they kept eating.  Then we were able to watch your horse do some tricks.  And you stood on your horses back.

Once we got home we opened presents and had cake and ice cream.  You wanted a real American Girl doll.  You got Kanani! She's hawaiian with long beautiful hair.  You also requested a horse cake.  I'm not that creative so instead I put little plastic horses on your cake. 7 of them to be exact.  We all had a wonderful time.  I love to see you so happy.  You are growing up too fast.

CREATIVITY!?

I love to see my kids being creative and using their imagination.  This moment was just too funny to pass up.  Brooklyn made homemade drums.

4th & 24th of July with RSL

BJ and I are huge fans of RSL.  We get season tickets every year and never miss a game! Ocassionally we like to bring our girls to the games with us and enjoy in some of the fun.  We all dress up in our jerseys, pig out on cotton candy and popcorn, cheer as loud as we can and just enjoy these opportunities we have as a family. 
This year we took the girls to the 4th of July game.  There were fireworks afterwards which just topped the night off.

High fives with Leo the Lion

Brooklyns top 5 favorite places

While drive home this afternoon, Brooklyn announces that her top five favorite places are:
1. Home
2. Church
3. School
4. Dentist
5. Walgreens

I was quite impressed at first... but, Huh?, she HATES the dentist.  And Walgreens?? Where on earth did that come from? Oh how I would love to take a peek of that little brain of hers and see what is going on inside.

Another FHE favorite moment of mine!

As I've mentioned before I love FHE.  Tonight, BJ was MIA because he was up at girls camp helping out.  So it was just the girls and I.  Tonight was fun, but my favorite moments had to be the opening and closing songs.  Brooklyn led the opening song ("Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam").  We "tried" to follow along. . . she got a kick out of leading super fast and super slow while Hannah and I tried to keep up and or slow down.  Then, Hannah led the closing song.  She used her B.O.M. as her hymn book and held it open with one hand, while leading with the other.  She did quite well, as far as pace goes. However, it was a little hard to follow along because in the middle of the song she would have us stop while she turned a few hundred pages (keep in mind she is using the B.O.M) and then we would continue.  She did that twice.  It cracked me up.  I love my kids!

Attempting two wheels!.

I thought I would try to teach Hannah to ride a bike this summer.. Other that thinking about it and a couple of attempts that's about as far as I've gotten.  She absolutely loves it.  But she forgets to pedal.  So it is pretty much me pushing her all over the street.  And she can't seem to understand why I am so tired after a few
trys.